The Milwaukee Brewers carry a 2-0 World Series lead into Game 3 at Tropicana Field, and the setup has all the ingredients for a tense night in Tampa Bay. This is the third time in this postseason the Brewers have gone on the road with a chance to press all the pressure onto the other dugout after winning the first two games of a series.
For Freddy Peralta, the stage adds a personal layer. Since Milwaukee’s rebuild wrapped up in 2018, the World Series has been the goal, and Peralta is one of the few players who has stuck around through it all. He was widely expected to open Game 1 for the Brewers, but instead he gets the ball tonight against the team he once called his own.
The atmosphere around the game has been a story in itself. Milwaukee fans have pushed ticket prices up back home while prices in Tampa Bay have gone the other direction, and reports suggest nearly 30% of the tickets sold for Games 3 and 4 came from Wisconsin. That has raised the possibility of Tropicana Field sounding a lot less like a road park and a lot more like a home crowd in green and gold.
Milwaukee’s offense arrives rolling, too. The Brewers are riding a seven-game winning streak and have already handled the Rays’ rotation tricks by knocking off Drew Rasmussen and Nick Martinez.
Now they get Peralta, and the first encounter between the sides this year did not go smoothly for him. On July 20, as a New York Met, he gave up seven runs on eight hits, with two homers and two walks.
The matchup numbers lean Milwaukee’s way as well. Every hitter in the Brewers lineup has at least one career hit against Peralta. William Contreras has led the way at .500 with a pair of RBIs, and Jackson Chourio has hit .444 with an RBI and two stolen bases.
On the mound for Milwaukee, Robert Gasser gets the ball for the third straight game in this postseason, again tasked with giving the bullpen some breathing room. He’s been one of the postseason’s biggest surprises, allowing just one run over nine innings. The Rays haven’t seen much of him, and the results have been limited, with five of their nine starters still without a hit against him.
Tampa Bay is also making a notable change in its lineup. Kevin Cash and his staff have sat Jonathan Aranda for the first time this postseason, even though he reached base in five of his eight World Series plate appearances.
He’s expected to re-enter once Gasser exits, but for now the Rays are moving forward without one of the few bats that has done damage in this series. Ryan Vilade takes Aranda’s spot, and the Brewers have already seen him twice, with one strikeout in those meetings.
First pitch is set for 7 p.m., and this will be the Brewers’ first postseason game on the East Coast since 2021. The game will air on FOX, with WTMJ carrying the radio broadcast.
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